Saturday, January 3, 2015

Figuring out Health Care!!

I do not pretend to be an expert on ANYTHING. There are things I know a lot about. And there are things I know nothing about. But I do know that when I feel like I am getting 'screwed' it isn't fun. Ever!

I wonder if he knows what 'affordable' means

I am not an expert on insurance. Especially medical insurance. I never had to take care of those kinds of things. And we never had a president who felt like healthcare is a right for everyone. I don't know if it should be a right for everyone. But I do know that I shouldn't be the one paying for it. I can barely take care of myself and two teenage kids. Now I am having to make that decision on whether I can afford to keep my health care coverage or just take my chances with having no health care.Richard had everything all set up for me to receive health care from his employer until I turn 65. Which is not until 2017. Then I will take Medicare and see if I can afford the supplemental insurance to go along with it.Yesterday I found out that as of January 1, 2015 (don't ask me why I didn't know this sooner, because I don't know) my health insurance went up $110.00 a month. That is in addition to the over one hundred dollars I was already paying. For just me. WHAT????? I am now being forced into a position to decide whether or not I can afford health care. Is this what Mr. Obama had in mind????I may have to reassess my goals for 2015. I might have to remove Health from my list. It is looking like I am not going to be able to afford to be healthy.Does anyone else understand what is going on? How are you dealing with the increasing cost of health care? Should all of us pay for all of those who can't pay for their own insurance? I don't know! I am asking!

25 comments:

I hate all this healthcare reform. I just turned 26 in December, so as of January 1st, I lost my insurance. It's too expensive for me to get it from work (it also barely covers anything), and going on the Obamacare site is crappy too. Even with a subsidy, I'd be paying about $120 a month, which isn't bad, but the deductible is $10,000!! There is no way I can afford it, especially since I work in retail, so it would eat up pretty much all of my income. My husband found out he can't get insurance through his job because he is technically not considered full time, yet he works about 40 hours a week, sometimes more. Also, a co-worker of mine says her insurance is going up to almost $350 a month as if January 1st when it used to be a little over $100. It's all ridiculous now. We can't afford to live anymore.

It is sadly only going to grow worse. There are so many tiny little bombshells about the ACA. You will either buy insurance or be fined by the IRS. Insurance is also considered taxable income so you will be paying in so many different aspects. Notice the new ads by the insurance preparers they are alluding to all the new and different forms you have to provide. Oh yeah we were are Gruber-ized.

It is awful, Paula, and I wish I knew why. My insurance at work went up 120 dollars a month for hubby and me, making it close to 380 dollars monthly. Now that he got a job and will be eligible for insurance next month, I can take him off my policy and then my premium will only be 67 dollars twice a month. But at 57 and 61, its scary to consider not having it. So sorry about your rate increase. It is hard to know what to do.

Gosh, but I've got to be careful what I say in a public forum. I'm certainly NOT a fan of the present occupant of the White House. ... but no expert on health care reform either.I keep coming back to, "Why did he feel compelled to fix something that wasn't broken?" When all's said and done, I think the only course of action is prayer ... and pay close attention to our own instincts!

I can only speak for myself. But MY health insurance was fine just the way it was. It was expensive but at a cost that I could fit into my budget. It was not 100% like we had before but I could manage it. The way that it is now finds me wondering if I should just go without health insurance and continue NOT going to the doctor. Much less expensive that way.

Paula, I guess my comment to you got lost. Anyway, you might consider catastrophic insurance to tide you over. Peggy got hers with LIfemap when she couldn't get signed on for Obamacare even though she did everything right and started five months early. The trouble with her LIfemap policy was that it couldn't be renewed after six months, but maybe you could insure with another company after six months. It's not a great option, but it's all that comes to mind at the moment. Peggy is also 63 and finally did get signed on to Obamacare for this year, but the process was awful, costing us ten to twenty hours of effort due to bugs in their website combined with a complete lack of technical support. My understanding is that your out of pocket max since Obamacare is around $7,000 (I tried to look it up just now, but, predictably, the website was down), so I have no idea how one reader could have a $10,000 deductible.

I will check into that Snow! So far my research has told me that what I am currently paying is cheap compared to what I am going to find. And that my deductible is a heck of a lot less than $7,000. My biggest problem is that paying more than $200 for just me is just not going to fit into my budget. I am struggling with what to do

Well, when I went on the Obamacare website and put in all the info needed, the cheapest plan cost about $120 a month, like I said above, but the deductible was $10,000. I kid you not, it was insane. The more expensive plans that were around $350-$400 a month had significantly lower deductibles, around $2,500. I can't afford that monthly plan either. I even had to email the info I got to my mom because she didn't believe me when I told her. She was floored seeing how expensive it was. I'm better off paying the fine at this point because I just can't afford any healthcare plan

It definitely does have a lot of bugs that need to be worked out. I am not sure that ACA is a good thing but I do know that now insurance companies cannot deny you coverage for preexisting illness nor would Katy have had insurance until she was 26 but would have been kicked to the curb at 18 unless she was a full time student and then she could have been covered until 21. As you know, my hubby is a labor negotiator, and he was told by a rep from BC/BS that the ACA only accounts for a 1.5% raise in rates but the powers that run the insurance companies have found a way to go crazy with their rates and not take any of the blame. It has also caused employers to stop hiring people full time but still have them work full time hours as has happened to Katy's husband. I am sure that was an unforseen problem with ACA and it needs to be addressed ASAP. I cannot agree that nothing was "broken" but I can agree that this "fix" has seemed to cause more problems than cures.

I can agree that MY health care was NOT broken. And they are blaming it on the ACA so I don't know what else to believe. I feel that those of us who do have insurance are paying for ALL of those who don't have insurance and I just can't rationalize how that is fair to me. I have ALWAYS worked and paid my bills and I struggle with finding how it is fair that I am paying for those who don't work or for those who work but continue to have babies and etc and not pay their own bills. Being a loving person can only go so far.

I was very lucky to be able to stay on my Dad's plan until I turned 26. I had alot of health issues over the Summer that I was able to take care of before my insurance ran out, and I'm glad I was able to take care of it then. I honestly miss the insurance because there are still things I have to get checked but now it's going to have to wait.

My husband may be able to get health insurance in the future at his workplace. He's going to be getting training that'll give him a raise and more hours so he will be well over 40 hours in a week, therefore hopefully he will be considered fulltime with benefits. That's the only silver lining there, but I'm not sure what's going to happen with it.

Snow this could go back and forth forever...I won't let it! There may be a lot more people out there "more strapped than myself" but I am charged with taking care of me and mine. Just like my parents did before me and theirs before them. I know for a fact that the welfare system in this country is a huge part of what is wrong with our system. I worked in health care and saw the abuse of health care by many of these people. They would wait to see a doctor at the hospital emergency room rather than have to wait at the clinics in the day time. They came for every little things from a drippy nose to a stubbed toe. Girls who didn't have the ability to take care of kids PLANNED pregnancies and the rest of the world took care of them. (and continues to care for them today.) I am not talking about those who are too sick to work, have pre-existing conditions, or have been bankrupted by medical bills. I am talking about those who don't, or won't, work, have more kids than they can take of and are bleeding our system dry. I WANT to take care of myself and my family. But if it means that I can't go to the doctor then I won't go. But since I am such a believer in the American way then I want you to know that I also believe every single one of us are allowed to have our own opinion. I don't have this blog to cause controversy. I was merely stating what the increase in health care was going to do to my family.

I think that what is fair to me, at this moment, is to end this discussion before I say things that I won't really mean. I think that part of what is wrong with this country is that there are WAY too many people whom we are paying for that could pay for themselves if they tried. But they are stuck in that way of thinking that it is NOT their fault that they cannot pay.

As someone with a bunch of health problems, I can totally see the difference this piece of legislation has made over the past few years. Our family has to pay more...a lot more...but our coverage has changed, and some not for the better. My insurance has stopped covering compound creams and now that I can't use them to "take the edge off", I'm looking at getting surgery sooner than expected. So stupid...they won't cover the stupid cream, but will pay for surgery! Something needs to change. I hope you find an answer to your health care problems. Best of luck to you...and here's to a healthy 2015 for you!

Thank you for your comments. I worked in health care for more than 30 years and I totally understand how silly some of the insurance decisions were for the patient. We would have patients that needed continued antibiotic therapy and instead of dismissing them to home, with visiting nurses, (which the insurance company refused to cover) they would be admitted to the skilled nursing unit for continued care. I never understood it then either. Good luck to you as well!